Japan’s PM is losing fight to end pacifism

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Shinzo Abe wants to be able to help with international pezacekeeping operationsAFP/Getty Images

Richard Lloyd ParryTokyo

Published at 12:01AM, June 19 2014

Shinzo Abe, Japan’s nationalist prime minister, is facing unexpectedly fierce opposition to his plans to dismantle the country’s cherished pacifist principles, from demonstrators, from his own supporters and from Buddhist pacifists within his own ruling coalition.

It is more than a month since Mr Abe announced his intention of changing the rules which prevent Japanese troops from fighting side by side with their allies overseas — a right which has been renounced by successive Japanese governments to conform to Japan’s postwar “peace constitution”. However, thanks to stubborn opposition from inside his own government, he is unlikely to reach a self-imposed deadline